Oct 8 -- Bran Castle

Bran Castle

Guide showing us the 'secret' staircase

We headed out early to go to Bran Castle, the one touted as being Dracula's Castle, except that it is all Hollywood Hype. Bram Stoker (an Irishman) had a story idea and searched for a while to find an evil sounding villain. Vlad the Impaler of Romania was the son of Vlad Dracul, and as the son, his title would have been Vlad Dracula. He did nasty things avenging his father's death, but as far as anyone can tell, he is still dead, not undead. By the way, there are not even vampire bats here: they are South American. But let's not let that get in the way of a good story. Bram Stoker never traveled to Romania, and actually put the castle in his story much further east. However, Bran Castle has a very cool look, so it has become the stand-in for the un-real thing.

Jim heading up the secret staircase

Something I found interesting is that this castle was initially created by a Bavarian king, Stephen of Hohenzolern, an ancestor of Ludwig II of Bavaria, who built the fairy tale castle in Fussen that became the inspiration for Disney Castle. The castle was initially just a well-placed fortress to control the Turks from the south and smugglers from all directions. It got nifty in the 1920s when Queen Mary of Romania was granted it after her role in negotiating the Treaty of Versailles. She was a descendent of Queen Victoria and wanted to be an important queen, but Queen of England was not a job that was going to be open soon, so she made a marriage of convenience with King Ferdinand of Romania. After a couple years and two kids, they formally stayed together, but entertained other dalliances -- she eventually had 6 kids, apparently with more than 2 fathers. She got herself invited to the negotiations of the Treaty of Versailles by sleeping with someone close to President Wilson -- one of 7 rulers and the only woman to participate. Apparently she was quite the lady and forced Russia to cede land to Romania. When she was given the castle, she spiffed it up neatly, and now it is available for tourists. The town below used to be just farmland and now they have over 3000 beds for visitors, so the tourist shopping options were pretty strong, and I did finally manage to find a corkscrew.

We drove in a large bus over lousy roads to a remote village for lunch --- during the winter, cars cannot get in or out, but horses and tractors made it. I sometimes wondered if the bus would. It was a lot like driving through rural Switzerland with step hills, snow, and lots of chalets -- very picturesque. Lunch was good too.

Lunch was in the building on the left.

Jim near one of the cute homes

Snow on mountaintops already

Our guide, Mate, in native dress, showing us
local traditional skills

Back at the hotel, I indulged in another massage -- this one was a steal at only $30 including tip. Maybe we should move here when we run out of money -- low cost of living and friendly people.....